Viking People

The Vikings were northern people, sometimes called the Norse, who lived in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway and sailed the seas in search of treasure. They lived in long houses and huts made of wood. Their raiding period lasted from 793 when a Viking ship raided and destroyed Lindisfarne Abbey in England until 1066 when William of Normandy, himself a descendant of Viking settlers invaded and took over England in the same year that the English defeated the Norwegian King Harold.

Viking Craft

Viking Lands Map

We also colored maps of the raiding routes and areas of trade and settlement of the Vikings. Many countries of Europe would eventually be run by Viking people, including Britain, France, Russia, and Southern Italy. Vikings also fought as mercenaries in places like the Byzantine Empire. On the map below you can see some of the routes their ships took when they were raiding or trading. You can also see where they made permanent settlements.

Additional Layers

Anyone with a northern European heritage has some Viking blood mixed in. They settled Northern France, took over parts of Germany and most of Britain, raided throughout Ireland, France and the Baltic states, traded in the Mediterranean and through eastern Europe as far south as the Black Sea, and settled what is now Russia (Russia is named for the Viking’s red hair, red=rus).

Vikings settled at least temporarily in North America in around 980 or so, about 500 years before Columbus.

Vikings are also known as Norse, for “North”.

Vikings wrote in runes, at least their priest class did, maybe others did as well, but we don’t know because anything made of skins, paper, wood, or cloth disintegrated long ago in the northern climates.

This activity is part of Unit 2-4 in the Layers of Learning program. Learn more.

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